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Sixty-Five. 






BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 



OF 



RUFUS CHOATE. 



BY 



REV. T>Ti. C. "ADAMS. 



NEW YORK: 
PHILLIPS & HUNT. 

CINCINNATI: 
AA/'ALDEN & STOWE 

1883. 



K 



N 

The "Home College Series" will contain one hundred short papers on 
a wide range of suhjecia — biographical, historical, scientitie, literary, domes- 
tic, political, and religious. Indeed, the religious tone will characterize all 
of them. They are written for every body — for all whose leisure is limited, 
but who desire to use the minutes for the enrichment of life. 

These papers contain seeds from the best gardens in all the world of 
human knowledge, and if dropped wisely into goo<l soil, will bring forth 
harvests of beauty and value. 

They are for the young — especially for young people (and older people, 
too) who are out of the schools, who are full of 'business" and "cares," 
who are in danger of reading nothing, or of reading a sensational literature 
that is worse than nothing. 

One of these papers a week read over and over, thought and talked about 
at "odd times," will give in one year a vast fund of information, an intel- 
lectual quickening, worth even more than the mere knowledge acquired, a 
taste for sohd reading, many hours of simple and wholesome pleasure, and 
ability to talk intelhgently and helpf'u..y to one's friends. 

Pastors may organize "Home College" classes, or "Lyceum Reading 
Unions," or "Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circles," and liclp the 
young people to read and think and talk and live to worthier purpose. 

A young man may have his own little "college" all by himself, rend this 
series of tracts one after the other, (tiiero will soon be one hundred of them 
ready,) examine himself on them by tlse " Thought-Outline to Help the Mem- 
ory," and thus gain knowledge, and, what is better, a love of knowledge. 

And what a young man may do in tliis respect, a young woman, and both 

old men and old women, may do. 

J. H. Vincent. 
Nf.w Yoke, c/«n., 18S3. 



Copyright, 1883, by Phillips & Hunt, New York. 



'^)omc (Tollcgc .Scries. 4lumbcr Su'tn-fibc. 



RUFUS CHOATE. 



RuTus CnoATE was born in Ipswich, Mass,, in October, 
1799, thus commencing his life with the century. His father 
was a farmer, and the son, in his boyhood, was occupied prin- 
cipally in farming labors. Yet he early gave evidence that 
another destiny than that of farming was awaiting him. He 
was a vigorous youth, apt and strong lor labor, and equally 
apt for all the sports of boyhood, in which he seems to have 
been a match for every one of his mates. But his uncon- 
querable love for reading and knowledge early develoj^ed 
itself, and before he had completed his sixth year he had 
become familiar with the " Pilgrim's Progress," a book which 
he never ceased to reverence and admire. Before he was ten 
years he had read such books as Rollin's *' Ancient History." 
Josephus, Plutarch's "Lives," Telemachus, and several 
other works, while the Bible was repeatedly read through, 
and with more than ordinary thoughtfulness and care. 

Young Choate commenced the study of Latin at the age 
of ten, under a private instructor ; and at fifteen he was sent 
to Hampton Academy, New Hampshire, where he finished his 
preparatory studies. He then entered Dartmouth College, 
and his first appearance there is thus portrayed to us : *' His 
classmates remember him as a diftident, modest, beautiful 
boy, the youngest in the class, with two exceptions ; singu- 
larly attractive in person and manners ; of a delicate frame, 
with dark, curling hair ; a fresh, ruddy complexion, a beau- 
tifully ingenuous countenance ; his movements marked with 
a natural grace and vivacity, and his mind, from the first, 
betraying the spirit of a scholar." 

His preparation for college was somewhat imperfect, yet 
he entered upon his collegiate course with a large amount of 



RUFUS C HO ATE. 



general information for his years, and a thirst for knowledge 
which no difficulties could quench ; he was, also, " free from 
every taint of vice, generous, enthusiastic, established in 
general principles, good habits, and good health." He was, 
from the beginning, remarkably diligent and faithful as a 
student, and his progress in study and mental discipline was 
rapid to an extraordinary degree. One of his classmates 
thus describes the first recitation of Choate, to which he 
listened : " I watched when Choate got up, and in those 
clear, musical tones, put Livy's Latin into such exquisitely 
fit and sweet English as I had not dreamed of, and in com- 
parison with which, all the other construing of that morning 
seemed the roughest of unlicked babble. After the first 
sentence or two, I had no doubt who was the first classical 
scholar among us, or who had the best command of English, 
I was on one side of the room, and he on the other; and I 
remember, as if but yesterday, his fresh, personal beauty, 
and all the graceful charm of modest, deferential look and 
tone that accompanied the honeyed words." 

" What was thus beg:un he carried through to the end. 
As early as his Sophomore year he entered upon a course of 
thorough, systematic study, not with the object of excelling 
his classmates, but to satisfy the ideal of excellence which 
filled his own mind. He never, while in college, mingled 
very freely in the sports of the play-ground, and yet was 
never a recluse. His door was always open to any one who 
called to see him. But his example did much to set the 
standard of scholarship, and to impart a noble and generous 
spirit to the class and the college." 

Nor did young Choate at all decline throughout his entire 
college course. He seems not to have restricted himself to 
the mere prescribed lessons of the college curriculum, but 
he early laid out for himself a systematic and thorough 
course of studies, with a view to a liberal and complete intel- 
lectual training, such as answered his beau-ideal oi excellence 



RUFUS Clio ATE. 



in scliolarship ; and his example of diligence and application 
did much to " impart a noble and generous spirit to the class 
and the college." Thus, in the classics, in histor}-, and gen- 
eral literature, he read far beyond the requirements of the 
curric'uluni, while yet he is represented as having been far 
less distinguished for his acquisitions, than for his discipline 
and training, which enabled him to command readily all that 
he knew. 

One who entered Dartmouth as Freshman when Choate 
was Senior testifies " to the supremacy wdiich he held here, 
in the unanimous judgment of his fellow-students. No other 
man was ever mentioned in comparison with him. Ilis public 
college exercises were of a very uncommon character. Unless 
I was greatly misled by a boyish judgment at the time, or 
am strangely deceived by looking at them through the recol- 
lections of forty years, no college exercises of an undergrad- 
uate that I have ever heard, are at all worthy to be compared 
with them for beauty of style, for extent and variety of illus- 
tration, for breadth and scope, and for manly comprehension 
of the subject." It should be added of Choate that he was 
one of those college students, w^ho, while highly distino-uished 
as a scholar, stood, at the same time, equally high in the 
esteem of his fellow-students. "No student," says his biog- 
rapher, " ever bore his academic honors with greater modesty, 
or was regarded by his classmates wnth a more sincere affec- 
tion. Envy was swallowed up in admiration." 

Mr. Choate was graduated in 1819, with the highest honors 
of his class. He spent the succeeding year as tutor in the 
college, and then entered at once upon the study of law. His 
law studies were pursued partly at Cambridge Law School, 
and were continued in the office of :\[r. Wirt, then Attorney- 
General of the United States. Here, of course, his advan- 
tages for improving his knowledge of men and books were 
of a superior order. He spent much time in the Congres- 
sional Library, and was privileged to listen to such men as 



RUFUS CROATS. 



Marshall upon the bench, and Pinekney and others in the 
Senate. After about a year at "Washington he returned 
home, and completed, at Ipswich and Salem, his studies j^re- 
paratory to admission to the bar in 1823, 

The first four or five years of his practice Avas in Danvers, 
which he twice represented, meanwhile, in the State Legis- 
lature. It should be recorded, however, for the benefit of 
such as need such a record, that the early success of Rufus 
Choate in law business was not such as tended very strongly 
to his encouragement ; and, during the first two or three years 
of his practice, it was not unfrequently a subject of serious 
debate with him whether he had not mistaken his calling, 
and whether he would not better relinquish his profession, 
and apply himself to some other occupation. He persevered, 
however, and at length his great diligence and fidelity, joined 
with the fame of his eloquence and skill, were rewarded with 
a full share of business. A most important professional 
trait of Mr. Choate developed itself in the very early stages 
of his practice — a trait which proved a permanent character- 
istic throughout his whole brilliant career, and which, doubt- 
less, conduced materially to his distinguished success. We 
allude here to his marvelous faithfulness to any and every 
cause which he undertook to manage and defend ; and that, 
too, irrespective utterly of its importance or otherwise, or of 
any recompense or lack of recompense. "Before a justice 
of the peace, in an oflSce not larger than a shoemaker's shop, 
in defense of some petty offender, he poured forth the same 
wealth of words and illustrations, of humor and wit, and, in 
its measure, of learning and argument which, afterward, de- 
lighted the Supreme Court and Senate. Indeed, through- 
out his life, he never reserved his brilliant arguments for a 
suitable audience. He early made it a rule, for the sake of 
increasing his power as an advocate, to argue, at full length, 
every case he tried, and do his best on every occasion." 

After five years of practice at Danvers, Mr. Choate 



RUFUS CEO ATE. 



removed to Salcra. He was now known for his extensive 
learning, his diligence, excellent judgment, the splendor of 
his style, and his superior powers as an advocate ; and he 
presently rose to a distinguished position in his profession. 
He was, at this time, twenty-eight years of age, in full and 
vigorous health, of pale complexion, and with a countenance 
handsome and highly intellectual. His practice was now 
large, and he was connected with grave and important cases. 
^Meanwhile, during all his residence in Salem, he is represented 
as having been a diligent and untiring student, not only of 
law, but of the whole circle of literature, and especially of 
mental and political philosophy. He laid a broad founda- 
tion, and was erecting a lofty and beautiful superstructure. 

In 1830, two years after his removal to Salem, Mr. Choate 
was elected to Congress. We have seen that he had already 
served in the ^lassachusetts Legislature ; so that he was not 
an entire stranger to political life. But he felt that a more 
important field would now be opened before him, and a more 
weighty responsibility involved. He accordingly set himself 
at once to qualify himself for his prospective work, keeping 
his eye, during the whole year to intervene, upon the several 
great public questions upon which he, with his associates, 
would be called to deliberate in the national councils. He 
studied the subject of the public lands — their extent, locali- 
ties, and progress and system of sale. He gave careful 
attention to the then present attitude of American politics, 
])ondering diligently the measures and policy of the General 
Government. He investigated the subject of the tariff, and 
traced its history from the beginning ; also the subject of 
internal improvements, their cost and constitutionality. He 
pondered the state of British opinion, position of the 
Southern States, the commerce of the nation, and other sub- 
jects of national interest. 

All this clearly evinces that, though he was to be. one of the 
youngest members of Congress, he was bent upon being as 



BUFUS CnOATE. 



fully qualified as an uupracticed member there could possibly 
be for fulfilling the grave duties of a national legislator. 
We discern, in fact, one of his very prominent character- 
istics — the seizing upon every means to fit himself for every 
task with which he consented to grapple. It was in the 
genius, the nature of the man, to master every subject apper- 
taining to his calling. 

Mr. Choate took his seat in the House of Representatives 
in December of 1831, not as a novice who had every thing 
to learn res^ardino: the duties before him. His bearing was 
modest, he was not forward to speak, but was vigilant and 
industrious, and giving careful attention to all public ques- 
tions. He is said to have made but two speeches during the 
session, one of which was upon the subject of the tariff. 
It was an afternoon speech ; and few members, at first, were 
present. Gradually, however, they gathered in as he spoke, 
while the fascination of his eloquence drew them thickly 
around him. He spoke in the modest, deferential manner 
natural to him, with the same delicious, uninterrupted flow 
of choice words, and with hardly a gesture except the lifting 
and settling of the upper part of the body ; and he sat down 
amid the enthusiasm of those who heard him, members of 
all parties rushing to offer their congratulations. His position 
as a parliamentary orator was established. 

In the spring of 1833 Mr. Choate was again elected to 
Congress, and by an increased majority. On the 28th of 
March, 1834, he addressed the House touching the removal of 
the deposits. Several days afterward, he was followed on the 

same side by Mr. H , of Kentucky, a rough and quaint 

old stager in politics, and who was prone to some severity of 
criticism upon the efforts of the junior members. Com- 
mencing his speech, however, he alluded to his habit of not 
listening to speeches upon the same side of questions wliich 
he himself intended to advocate. " But," said he, " I was 
compelled to depart from this rule once during this debate. 



RUFUS CnOATE. 



Tlie nicmber from Massachusetts rose to speak, and, in 
accordance with my custom, I took my hat to leave, linger- 
ing a moment just to notice the tone of his voice and the 
manner of his speech. But that moment -was fatal to ray 
resolution. I became charmed by the music of his voice, 
and was captivated by the power of his eloquence, and 
found myself wholly unable to move until the last word of 
his beautiful speech had been uttered." 

At the close of the first session of this Congress, Mr. 
Choate, having decided to remove to Boston, resigned his 
seat. At the Boston bar he soon took an elevated position. 
He was, of course, well known. He already had fame as a 
lawyer, and his brief but able career in Congress had added 
to his prestige. Moreover, he Avas in the full possession of 
his great powers, and a considerable and a successful practice 
had given him assurance. While modest and retiring, he 
yet felt himself a man among men ; and, though of peculiar 
genius and exuberant eloquence, and of prodigious vehemence 
and boldness in behalf of his client, yet he was discerned to 
be as keen as he was earnest, and as logical in argument as 
he was fervent and rich in his diction, and as learned in law 
as he was brilliant in tactics and perseverance in the ]iresence 
of a jury. And then his new position could not fail to in- 
spire such a mind as that of Choate to extra energy. He 
was now moving and acting in association with some of the 
giants of his profession. At the Suffolk bar were such men 
as Franklin Dexter, Jeremiah Mason, and Daniel Webster ; 
•while upon the bench were Hubbard and Wilde and Shaw. 
Thus he Avas ushered into an arena where he was to measure 
strength with men unsurpassed in the whole country for 
ability and learning in their profession, and he exulted in his 
great opportunities, and, girding himself to seize upon them, 
he was " as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and 
rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race." 

His biographer thus presents Mr. Choate at this period of 



8 RUFUS CHOATF. 



his history : His " professional advancement in Boston was 
no accident, nor the result of pecnliar favoring circumstances. 
It was the reward of untiring diligence, as well as of great 
ability. Every day he was gaining ground, enlarging and 
consolidating his knowledge and invigorating his faculties. 
A few years served to give him a position second to none 
except the acknowledged and long-tried leaders of the bar. 
His consummate judgment in the conduct of a cause, no less 
than his brilliant power as an advocate, commanded respect 
from the most able. He knew when to speak, and, what is 
more difficult, when to be silent. In the most intricate and 
doubtful case, when fairly engaged, he did not allow himself 
to despair, and was often successful against the greatest 
odds. In defeat he was never sullen, and in victory he bore 
himself with so much modesty and gentleness that few 
envied his success. He especially attached himself to the 
younger members of the profession by unvarying kindness. 
He had great sympathy for a young lawyer. His advice and 
aid were always ready, voluntarily offered if he thought 
they were needed, and, if soiight, cheerfully and freely be- 
stowed. He assumed no superiority in this intercourse, but, 
by a kind suggestion or a few words of encouragement, in- 
sured success by inspiring confidence." 

On the appointment, by President Harrison, of Mr. Web- 
ster as Secretary of State, in 1841, the public finger pointed 
to Choate as his successor in the United States Senate. The 
idea Avas very distasteful to Mr. Choate, who was, from the 
beginning to the end of his career, devoted in heart to the 
})rofession and practice of law, and seemed to dread any in- 
terference herewith by assuming another position, however 
honorable. After repeated interviews with him, however, and 
the greatest urgency on the part of his friends, he suffered 
his name to go before the Legislature, and he was elected. 

Several speeches of Mr. Choate, during this Congress^ 
were of great force and beauty. Among these were his 



RUFUS CnOATE. 9 



speech relating to the case of M'Leod and tlie steamer 
"Caroline ;" a speech touching a National Bank ; one for the 
contirniation of Mr. Everett as Minister to England ; a 
speech on the Bankrupt law; one for Retrenchment and Re- 
form ; the Tariff, and several others. 

At the meeting of the 2Sth Congress Mr. Choate 
resumed his seat in the Senate. Among other important 
speeches delivered by him during this session was his inter- 
esting and successful clinch with Mr. M'Duffee, of South 
Carolina, when that gentleman was so successfully annihilat- 
ed. It Avas in the progress of this debate that Mr. Choate 
gave his amusing description of the New England climate. 
Said he : " Take the New England climate in summer. 
You would think the world was coming to an end. Recent 
heresies on that subject may have had a natural origin 
there. Cold to-day ; hot to-morrow ; mercury at 80° in the 
morning, with wind at south-west ; and in three hours more, 
a sea-turn, wind at east, a thick fog from the very bottom 
of the ocean, and a fall of 40'' of Fahrenheit ; now so 
dry as to kill all the beans in New Hampshire ; then 
floods carrying off the bridges of the Penobscot and Con- 
necticut ; a snow in Portsmouth in July ; and the next day 
a man and a yoke of oxen killed by lightning in Riiode 
Island. You would think the world Avas twenty times 
coming to an end. But I do not know how it is ; we go 
along ; the early and the latter rain falls, each in its season ; 
and seed-time and harvest do not fail ; the sixty days of hot 
corn Aveather are pretty sure to be measured out to us. The 
Indian Summer, with its bland south-Avest and mitigated 
sunshine, brings all up ; and on the tAventy-fifth of Novem- 
ber, or thereabouts, being Thursday, throe millions of 
grateful people, in meeting-houses or around the family 
Ixxard, give thanks for a year of health, plenty, and 
happiness." 

In March, 1845, Mr. Choate retired from the United States 



10 RUFUS C no ATE. 



Senate, and resumed the practice of law. From this time, 
through five succeeding years, he seemed to have diligently 
and laboriously pursued his profession. During this inter- 
val he Avas engaged professionally in cases of great celebritv, 
and in which he exerted himself with all his characteristic 
and great abilities. About this time, hoAvever, he seems to 
have been contemplating a more comprehensive reach of 
general study and intellectual accomplishments. Indeed, 
this remarkable man had the seeming of beinof alwavs and 
every- where intent upon whetting himself up, so to speak, 
for a Avider, cleaner, and nobler swath along the great field 
of his untiring and matchless labors. 

Somewhere between forty-five and fifty years of his life 
we read, as folloAVS, from his Journal, omitting, however, 
much of so interesting an extract : 

"]t is plain that if I am to do aught, beyond the mere 
drudgery of my profession, for profit of others or of 
myself ; if I am to ripen, and to produce any fruit of study, 
and to construct any image or memorial of my mind or 
thoughts, it must be done, or be begun, quickly. To this 
I have admonition in all things. Hififh time — if not too 
late — it is to choose between the two alternatives : to amuse 
such moments of leisure, as business leaves me, in various ran- 
dom reading of good books, or to gather up these moments, 
consolidate, and mold them into something worthv of mv- 
self, which may do good when I am not known, and live 
when I shall have ceased to live — a thoughtful and soothins: 
and rich printed page. Thus far I have squandered these 
moments away. They have gone — not in pleasure, nor the 
pursuit of gain, nor in the trivialities of society, but in desul- 
tory reading, mainly of approved authors; often, much, of 
the grandest of the children of light — but reading without 
method and without results. No doubt taste has been im- 
proved, sentiments enlarged, language heightened, and many 
of the efiects — inevitable, insensible, and abiding — of liberal 



MUFUS C no ATE. 11 



culture impressed on the spirit. But for all this, who is bet- 
ter ? Of all this, who sees the proofs ? How selfisli and how 
narrow the couch of these gratifications ! How idle the 
strenuousness of daily labor ! Hort^ instantly the air will close 
on this armed path ! How sad, how contemi)tib]e, that no 
more should be left of such a life, than of the common-place 
and vacant and satisfied, on this side and that ! I liave been 
under the influence of such thoughts, meditating the choice 
of the alternative. I would arrest these moments, accumulate 
them, transform them into days and years of remembrance." 

Tlien follows some sketches of the plan he proposes for 
himself for a widely extended course of literary work, with a 
view of filling up the leisure hours when not engaged in pro- 
fessional labors. 

After a brief vacation in Europe, Mr. Choate, on his re- 
turn, at once addressed himself with his usual assiduity to 
his professional labors, turning aside only for special and 
important occasions. Among these latter were his participa- 
tion in the Baltimore Convention of 1852, and his splendid 
effort there, his great eulogy of AVebster at Dartmouth 
Collesre in 1853, his services in the Massachusetts Constitu- 
tional Convention in the same year, and various public ad- 
dresses, lectures, etc. His general health, bating periodical 
sick headaches, continued firm through several years, and 
his industry in his calling and his zeal for self-improvement 
continued unabated. 

Self-improvement, indeed, as this sketch has thus far suf- 
ficiently intimated, was with Mr. Choate emphatically a life 
endeavor. From his college days to his day of death he 
seems to have suftered no intermission in this great work. 
Ever accompanying the busy practice of a toilsome profes- 
sion was a persistent effort for a more finished intellectual 
discipline and a grander professional power. Thus it trans- 
pired that, great as he was as a lawyer and advocate, he 
was scarcely less great as a scholar, as a man of letters. On 



12 RUFUS GEO ATE. 



every account he was an ardent lover of books, and "while he 
was profoundly read in law, his general reading was equally 
extensive. All history, ancient and modern, was at his com- 
mand, and philosophy, poetry, and fiction were as familiar 
to him as if literature were his sole pi'ofession and occupa- 
tion. Probably few learned professors connected with the 
colleges of the country were more intimately conversant 
with the ancient classics than was this wonderful man. In 
truth, unlike multitudes of collegiate students at their grad- 
uation, he never bade adieu to his Greek and Latin readings, 
but continued to peruse, more or less critically, the ancient 
classic authors to the end of his life. At the same time all 
modern literature was present with him ; books were his de- 
light and constant recreation, whose soothing influence upon 
him in the intervals of professional toil he seems to have 
realized and enjoyed to an eminent degree. Thus it was 
from the depths of his own experience that the beautiful 
eulogy upon books escaped him in the course of his address 
at the opening of the " Peabody Institute," at Danvers. 
" Let," said he, " the case of a lawyer testify to the priceless 
value of the love of reading. He comes home, his temples 
throbbing, his nerves shattered from the trial of a week ; sur- 
prised and alarmed by the charge of tlie judge, and pale 
with anxiety about the verdict of the next morning ; not at 
all satisfied with what he has done himself, thougli he does 
not see how he could have improved it ; recalling with 
dread and self-disparagement, if not with envy, the brilliant 
effort of his antagonist, and tormenting himself with the 
vain wish that he could liave replied to it, and altogether a 
very miserable subject, and in as unfavorable a coiulition 
to acc-ept comfort from wife and children as poor Christian 
in the first three pages of 'Pilgrim's Progress.' With a 
superhuman effort he opens his book, and in the twinkling 
of an eye he is looking into the full ' orb of Homeric and INIil- 
tonic song,' or Pope or Horace laughs him into good humor." 



RUFUS Clio ATE. 13 



" Books," says oiu', " were ever his [Clioate's] pastime, and 
books only. In them he literally ' lived, moved, and had liis 
' beino-.' His library was his home. Ilis authors were the 
loves of his life. Men he was kind to, but I do not think he 
trusted men much. But his books he believed in with all 
his soul. He told me that it was a great pastime to him to 
pull them down and put them up, and re-arrange and fuss 
over them. lie cherished rare editions. He bought books 
till every inch of space on the walls of his long library was 
filled, and he said he must put the rest under his bed. He 
had in his library some eight thousand volumes. 

" These books were bought not to be looked at, but to be 
read. He grasped the thoughts of a book like lightning; and 
he was forever reading. He i-ead while talking. He read 
while at his meals. He was at one time so lame as to be un- 
able to walk to and from court ; but he had his carriage seat 
half covered with books, which he consumed as he rode." 

We must pass over all further mention of Mr. Choate's 
three-months' visit to Europe in 1850, and his interesting re- 
flections upon what he saw when abroad. Likewise are we 
compelled to omit all the eloquent eulogies of him pronounced 
by eminent men on the occasion of his death. All these 
varied and eloquent testimonies touching the high character 
and transcendent abilities of Mr. Choate were exceedingly 
Just, appropriate, and true. Those of us who saw and heard 
him but seldom cuuld not fail of being deeply impressed, not 
only with the intellectual greatness, but the whole aspect, 
action, and bearing, of the man. His personal appearance 
was striking, and his presence greatly impressive and mag- 
netic. His form was tall, straight, and symmetrical ; his 
hair, long, thick, and bushy, and black as a raven, with his 
slender and delicate fingers often wandering through its 
curly mazes ; his eye black as the blackest coal, and solemn 
and piercing as were the strange and almost awful eyes of 
the great Webster. In youth, his countenance must have 



14 RUFUS CnOATE. 



been singularly handsome and attractive; but, in his matiirity, 
a certain air of sadness and weariness seemed to sit upon 
his fine features, as if he were in need of a long season of 
rest and recreation. Nox', doubtless, was this seeming at all 
deceptive. He evidently needed rest long before he consent- 
ed to accept it. For, as repeatedly noted in this sketch, 
never could there have been a more laborious, industrious, 
and faithful worker in his profession. In the preparation of 
his cases he seemed not to depend upon his vast learning or 
transcendent genius, or his rich, rapid, and glowing elo- 
quence — in all of which he was excelled by few or none of 
any age or country. He evidently t;ave himself to his work 
with wonderful diligence and assiduity. His clear, keen eye 
took careful notice of every point, however minute. With 
him there was no wandering, no yielding, no omission. 
Never was there a man more devoted — more dedicated, so to 
speak — to his client. He seemed to lay himself all oxit — 
soul, body, and spirit — in subservience to the cause he had 
undertaken to manasre and sustain. No stone was left un- 
turned, no circumstances neglected, no trifle overlooked. 
At the same time, there was no hurry, no bustle, no move- 
ment or word that was hasty, indecorous, or rude. In his 
entire bearing, while conducting a case in court, he had the 
seeming of being as calm as he was earnest, and as dignified 
as he was watchful, and as gentlemanly as he was deter- 
mined, and as placid as he was industrious. 

Writes one mIio knew him intimately, and who Avas en- 
tirely competent to judge: "He is, above all things else, 
remarkable for consummate judgment and unerring tact in 
the management of causes. He is at once earnest and self- 
possessed ; every faculty is aroused and intent. There are 
no moments of languor, weariness, or inattention. He never 
makes a mistake himself, or overlooks one in an opponent. 
He shows the most practiced skill in the examination and 
cross-examination of witnesses ; and, by the magnetism of 



RUFUS Clio ATE. 15 



his manner, engages the sympathy of the jury in cases 
where the law and the facts forbid him to win the assent of 
their understanding." 

Listening, in one or two instances, to Mr. Choate, when 
addressing a jury, and watching his peculiar hearing on these 
occasions, we were profoundly impressed that, not only in 
addressing jurors, but in his entire management with them, 
he probably had no superior in the world. His discourse 
was in a style as faultless and smooth as that of Addison or 
Blair, and as perspicuous and transparent as Canning's, 
accompanied with the richness and splendor of Burke, 
and uttered with a warm and golden eloquence such 
as Cicero could have hardly excelled. IIow he would 
sometimes spread himself in the presence of those twelve 
men, especially on occasions of advocating the cause of 
some criminal on trial for his life ! "What a tremendous 
sweep would there be, not only of argument, but of per- 
suasion and feeling ! How would those dark and glittering 
eyes flash along that bench, riveting the eyes of the jurors 
as if held by the serpent's charm ! And no marvel if the 
advocate, in the midst of his amazing earnestness and 
pathos, Avould leave his standing-place, table, notes, oppo- 
nents, judges, spectators, all behind, and, walking back and 
forth along the jurors' bench, make his mighty appeal as if 
to each one, and as if he would storm the citadel of each 
one's understanding and heart both, and subdue and conquer 
at all hazards. 

Nor were the jury released from his grasp, even when his 
j)lea was through and the opposing counsel were proceeding 
to present another view. His eye was still upon them from 
moment to moment, and upon every one of them, and his 
ear intensely awake to detect the slightest error of fact or 
statement that might, by his inimitable skill, be turned to 
the advantage of his cause. 

It is pleasant to notice that, with all his genuine greatness 



16 EUFUS Clio ATE. 



and erudition, Rufus Choate seems to have been irreproach- 
able in his private character. He does not appear to have 
attached himself to any branch of the visible Church, while 
yet we can hardly separate him from the Christian disciple- 
ship. He was ever upright and true — a regular attendant 
upon public worship — a constant reader of the Scriptures, 
and daily prayers were read or offered in his family. His 
domestic character was without blemish ; while as a son, 
husband, and father, he was eminently kind and affectionate. 
Kindness was a law of his being ; and, in all social relations, 
he seems to have been one of the gentlest of men. There 
was no haughtiness — nothing overbearing or repulsive. 

It is melancholy to note that 3Ir. Choate drooped when 
in full possession of his great powers. His health, during 
the winter of 1858-9, seemed partially failing ; and he de- 
cided to spend the following summer in the south of 
England. He accordingly embarked on the 29th of June. 
On reaching Halifax, however, he was unable to proceed 
farther on the voyage, and, at the end of ten days, he 
breathed his last. 

The sad tidings at once spread over the United States, 
and there was general sorrow throughout the land. 



:e=l TJ I^ XJ S 0I3:0.-<^TE. 

[THOrGHT-OUTLCflt TO HELP THE MKMOBV.] 

1. Birth? Love of knowledge early developed? Personal appearance? Im- 

pressions riade at college ? Honors ? Law-reading ? At the bar ? Success 
not great at first ? Doubts ? Thoroughness under all circumstances ? 

2. Congress ? Subjucts of special investigiition ? Tariff question ? Congress 

again ? Incident ? 
8. Boston bar ? His contemporaries ? Success ? U. S. Senate ? M'Duffee ? 

Europe? Personal appearance at this time J Journal extract? Method 

witli a jury ? 
4. Religion? Illness? Death? 



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